Uber Hires Robot Security Guard

The Knightscope K5 robot got the nod for the job of parking lot security guard. Actually two of them - one recharges while the other patrols.

Uber drivers who pay a visit to the company’s inspection lot near Mission Bay in San Francisco will be met with a rather strange sight: a five-foot-tall, white, egg-shaped robot wheeling around the lot, on the look-out for trouble.

The robot is a K5, a 300-pound security robot made by Silicon Valley start-up Knightscope. It’s a stand-in for a human security guard. Stacy Stephens, Knightscope’s VP of marketing, says Uber is a recent customer of the company.

“For the cost of a single-shift security guard, you get a machine that will patrol for 24 hours a day 7 days a week,” said Stephens, citing wages of $25 to $35 hour for a human security guard.